OREANDA-NEWS. Net interest income of Sberbank for 9M 2015 came at RUB532.6 bn, down by 16.3% compared to that for 9M 2014. The pace of net interest income growth in 2015 is catching up to 2014 rate: 17.6% for 8 months and 16.3% for 9 months.

Interest income increased by RUB281.4 bn, or 24.6%, driven mostly by corporate loan portfolio growth and improving yield, as well as retail loan portfolio growth.

Interest expenses increased by RUB385.1 bn, or 75.8%, due to the increase in market interest rates and inflow of funds. The strongest impact on interest expense for 9M 2015 came from client deposits and the CBR funding. Slowdown in interest expenses growth continues due to gradual decrease in the CBR's key interest rate since the beginning of 2015. The increase in interest expense on deposits in September m-o-m is related to transfer of contributions to the Deposit Insurance Agency for the 3rd quarter (RUB 9.0 bn).

Net fee and commission income came at RUB207.4 bn, up by 6.0%. The Bank continued to demonstrate growth of net fees and commission income despite the decline in commission income from corporate lending and banking insurance.  Transactions with bank cards and acquiring remained the main drivers.

Net income from FX revaluation and trading operations on capital markets amounted to RUB41.2 bn for 9M 2015 compared to RUB32.6 bn for 9M 2014.

Operating expenses decreased by 0.9% y-o-y for 9M 2015 due to the Bank`s cost optimization program. Effective 2015 the Bank started to apply the accrual method in accounting for employee compensation expenses in order to smoothen the expenses distribution across the year. For comparison purposes the same accounting principle was applied to staff costs for 2014.

Excluding the accrual effect in accounting for employee compensation expenses for the same period of 2014, operating expenses increased by 1.3%.

Total provision charges amounted to RUB303.7 bn for 9M 2015 vs. RUB217.8 bn a year earlier. In September amount of provision charge came at RUB25.9 bn which is lower than the average monthly number for the previous 8 months (RUB34.7 bn). The Bank continues to create provisions in accordance with requirements of the Central Bank of Russia. Loan-loss provisions are 2.1 times the overdue loans.

Net profit before income tax came at RUB181.8 bn for 9M 2015 vs. RUB360.4 bn a year earlier. Net income reached RUB144.4 bn for 9m2015 compared to 286.7 bn for 9m2014.